Italians voted yesterday in partial local elections with all eyes on the northern business hub of Milan, Italy, a stronghold of embattled Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The vote yesterday and today is a last major test of Berlusconi’s popularity before his term runs out in 2013 and comes as the flamboyant Italian leader is embroiled in legal and sex scandals.
The center-right incumbent in Milan, Letizia Moratti, is expected to retain her post, but polls show she could be forced into a second round at the end of the month.
Photo: AFP
The elections involve 1,310 communal administrations — about 16 percent of the total — including Bologna, Milan, Naples and Turin.
Some 13 million of Italy’s 49 million-strong electorate are eligible in the vote, with weak growth and unemployment as well as local -issues such as the ongoing waste disposal crisis in Naples uppermost in voters’ minds.
The billionaire Berlusconi, head of a sprawling media empire, is currently a defendant in three trials in Milan, including one in which he is accused of having sex with an underage prostitute.
Berlusconi has also been hit by the defection of a key ally, parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini and about 40 lawmakers.
His popularity reached a record low of 31 percent in the latest poll last month — down from more than 60 percent after his re--election in 2008.
However, he has remained in power thanks to the support of the Northern League and has gone on the offensive, accusing prosecutors of waging a hate campaign against him and painting his leftist critics as communist extremists.
Polls opened yesterday at 8am and were to close at 10pm, reopening today at 7am until 3pm.
A second round is set for May 29 and 30.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number